In recent years, climate change concerns, federal/state initiatives, and other factors have driven a rapid rise in the installation of renewable energy generation (EG) systems (i.e., systems that generate energy using renewable resources such as solar, wind, hydropower, etc.) at residential and non-residential sites. Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, in particular, have been very popular EG systems.
The majority of PV capacity is “grid-connected”—in other words, tied to the utility-maintained electrical grid. This allows site loads to be serviced from the grid at times when the PV system cannot generate sufficient energy, while enabling energy to be fed back into the grid at times when PV energy production exceeds the site loads, thereby allowing the energy to be conveyed to others on the grid.
To make economic sense to install a PV system, it is desirable to maximize the PV production. However, in some regions, some utility regulations limit or prohibit feeding energy back to the grid. In such regions, the amount of PV energy production should generally be limited to the site loads to avoid exporting energy to the grid. To maximize the PV production while avoiding violating export restrictions, it is desirable to have a PV system that can adjust its energy production in real-time in response to load changes.